troubles with mail-source on NT, pgnus 0.77

troubles with mail-source on NT, pgnus 0.77

[Jack Vinson]

I've tried to debug the code a little to see what is happening in
mail-source.  I think the basic source of the problem for me is that
mail-source now calls movemail like this:
   (call-process shell-file-name nil nil nil shell-command-switch 
		 "movemail user@server tofile password")
However, nnmail used to call-process movemail directly:
  (apply
   'call-process (append                                      
		  (list (expand-file-name nnmail-movemail-program exec-directory)   
                        nil errors nil inbox tofile)
		  (when nnmail-internal-password              
		    (list nnmail-internal-password))          
		  (when nnmail-movemail-args                  
		    nnmail-movemail-args)))

This difference seems to be critical for those poor saps who are stuck on
NT boxes.  I thought that it might have something to do with the function
that is the shell-file-name, but it seems to be set correctly and hasn't
given me trouble with other code.

The big question is _why_ is there this difference in the calling
structures.

-- 
Jack Vinson <jvinson@chevax.ecs.umass.edu>    http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~vinson/
Zippy: I like the way ONLY their mouths move..  They look like DYING OYSTERS

Re: troubles with mail-source on NT, pgnus 0.77

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Jack Vinson <jvinson@chevax.ecs.umass.edu> writes:

> The big question is _why_ is there this difference in the calling
> structures.

The new way is more flexible.

   (call-process shell-file-name nil nil nil shell-command-switch 
		 "movemail user@server tofile password")

(or something) really should work under NT, I think.

Does

   (call-process shell-file-name nil nil nil shell-command-switch 
		 "echo hello")

work?  (That is, return 0?)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: troubles with mail-source on NT, pgnus 0.77

[Jack Vinson]

>>>>> "LMI" == Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

Jack Vinson <jvinson@chevax.ecs.umass.edu> writes:
[I'm having trouble with ntemacs retrieving mail with movemail, rather than
pop3-movemail.] 

LMI> The new way is more flexible.
[snip]
LMI> Does
LMI>    (call-process shell-file-name nil nil nil shell-command-switch 
LMI> 		 "echo hello")

LMI> work?  (That is, return 0?)

I CAN READ EMAIL WITH PGNUS 0.77.  Woo hoo.  :-)

This is all very curious.  I tried the above and it returned zero as Lars
predicted.  Then I tried it with movemail and it also returned zero.
However, it didn't _move_ any mail to the tofile.  (There was mail on the
server.)

So I did a little more digging and it looks like movemail is not actually
being called.  The ntemacs version of movemail is sitting in the emacs bin
directory.  For some reason, this directory is NOT in my search path and
the movemail command is not being found.  This is easy enough to fix.

There are a couple other small problems with mail-source-fetch-pop as well:
        * If I have a :program, then mail-source never asks for the
          password.  I have changed my code to test for :function instead
          as the one function that I know about (epop3mail) asks for its
          own passwords.
        * mail-source-crash-box is "~/.emacs-mail-crash-box" by default.
          Unfortunately, movemail gets confused with this and gives me the
          error "movemail: No such file or directory for ~/".  I am not
          sure of the best fix for this - the easy version is to do 
          (setq mail-source-crash-box (expand-file-name mail-source-crash-box))
          in my .gnus file.  Might there be a better place to do this to
          ensure trouble-free use for other people?

For those die hard emacsers who are running on NT boxes, I had to do the
following:
        * Make sure your PATH includes the directory in which movemail
          resides.  Or make the path explicit in the :program line of the
          nnmail-spool-file.  My settings below make the path explicit.

        * Set nnmail-spool-file and mail-source-crash-box.  Don't forget
          the "po:" before the name of the inbox.  That tells movemail to
          use the POP protocol.
      (setq nnmail-spool-file '((pop :server "server.com"
				     :user "user"
				     :program (format "%s %s" (expand-file-name "movemail.exe" exec-directory) "po:%u@%s %t %p")
				     ))
	    mail-source-crash-box (expand-file-name "~/.emacs-mail-crash-box"))

        * If you have the paths set correctly, you can just do
      (setq nnmail-spool-file '((pop :server "server.com"
				     :user "user"
				     :program "movemail po:%u@%s %t %p"
				     ))
	    mail-source-crash-box (expand-file-name "~/.emacs-mail-crash-box"))

        * To get this to work I also had to apply the progn/prog1 patch
          sent by Aaron Ucko in <kh090dqdsnz.fsf@lux.Stanford.EDU>.


-- 
Jack Vinson <jvinson@chevax.ecs.umass.edu>    http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~vinson/
Zippy: I'm DESPONDENT...  I hope there's something DEEP-FRIED under this
 miniature DOMED STADIUM...

Re: troubles with mail-source on NT, pgnus 0.77

[Alfred J Correira]

>> "Jack" == Jack Vinson <jvinson@chevax.ecs.umass.edu> writes:

  >>>>>> "LMI" == Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

  Jack> Jack Vinson <jvinson@chevax.ecs.umass.edu> writes:
  Jack> [I'm having trouble with ntemacs retrieving mail with movemail, rather than
  Jack> pop3-movemail.] 

  LMI> The new way is more flexible.
  Jack> [snip]
  LMI> Does
  LMI> (call-process shell-file-name nil nil nil shell-command-switch 
  LMI> "echo hello")

  LMI> work?  (That is, return 0?)

  Jack> I CAN READ EMAIL WITH PGNUS 0.77.  Woo hoo.  :-)

I also (finally) got this to work (using v0.79), thanks to Jack for putting me
on the right track.

I just wanted to note that this:

  Jack> There are a couple other small problems with mail-source-fetch-pop as well:
  Jack>         * If I have a :program, then mail-source never asks for the
  Jack>           password.  I have changed my code to test for :function instead
  Jack>           as the one function that I know about (epop3mail) asks for its
  Jack>           own passwords.

gets me as well -- I had to explicitly add a :password "<my password>" to
nnmail-spool-file before I could get movemail to work (I couldn't make it
prompt for a password with a :program specified, and couldn't make it work at
all unless I specified a :program).

Also, movemail hated "po:alfred@globeset.com" -- it would only work with
"po:alfred").  I don't know if this is a bug or a feature ... :-)

-- 
Work: Alfred.Correira@GlobeSet.Com  PH: 512.427.7715
Home: Correira@Flash.Net           FAX: 512.427.5101
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---
There is no cure for birth or death save to enjoy the interval.
-- George Santayana

Re: troubles with mail-source on NT, pgnus 0.77

[Kai.Grossjohann]

alfred@GlobeSet.com (Alfred J Correira) writes:

  > Also, movemail hated "po:alfred@globeset.com" -- it would only work with
  > "po:alfred").  I don't know if this is a bug or a feature ... :-)

It's documented, therefore it is a feature.  See the node `Movemail'
in the Emacs info file.

kai
-- 
I like _\bb_\bo_\bt_\bh kinds of music.

Re: troubles with mail-source on NT, pgnus 0.77

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

alfred@GlobeSet.com (Alfred J Correira) writes:

> gets me as well -- I had to explicitly add a :password "<my password>" to
> nnmail-spool-file before I could get movemail to work (I couldn't make it
> prompt for a password with a :program specified, and couldn't make it work at
> all unless I specified a :program).

Yup.  Fix in Pterodactyl Gnus v0.80.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen